Stand by for liftoff! The Australian market is set to race higher this morning on strong offshore leads after Greece struck a last minute compromise with European leaders to stay in the union.
Wall Street and European equities staged a more than 1% jump overnight and iron ore advanced for the third straight session after Brazilian mining giant Vale said it would cut 25 million tonnes of iron ore production starting this month.
The futures market is predicting a 1.1% rally for the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) this morning and iron ore miners like Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) and Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) will be in the spotlight on the back of Vale's decision and the 0.4% gain in the commodity to $US50.30 a tonne.
Investors will be wondering if Rio Tinto or BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) might follow suit although the ore that Vale is withdrawing from the market is low quality compared with the ore shipped by Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.
If anything, it probably makes sense for Fortescue Metals to take some supply off the table as its ore is also of lower quality than the two mining giants.
This development could be a godsend for Atlas Iron Limited (ASX: AGO) as it extends the closing date for its life-saving equity placement to July 16.
Copper miner Sandfire Resources NL (ASX: SFR) could excite the market with news that it could have discovered a very significant gold-copper ore body at its Doolgunna prospect that is about 10 kilometers from its flagship DeGrussa mine.
Packing company Amcor Limited (ASX: AMC) will also be in the spotlight after it acquired Packaging India Private from Essel Propack for $26.4 million.
Health food company Freedom Foods Group Ltd (ASX: FNP) is also on the acquisition trail after announcing it had bought the Ringwood Mill in the Riverina district of New South Wales from the Ringwood Group of Companies for around $5.9 million. The deal will enable it to expand its milling operations and gives it the ability to mill other key grains.
Meanwhile, property and infrastructure company Lend Lease Group (ASX: LLC) has sold its K1 office tower in Brisbane to Impact Investments, according to the Australian Financial Review.
Investors will also be keen to hear what building materials supplier CSR Limited (ASX: CSR) has to say at its annual general meeting today after its share price slipped 7% since its full year result in May even though its profit figure was ahead of market expectations.
